Clumsy, Crooked Lines, and Weird Triangles
by navitor3
Summary: Minutes into his work, the swordsman banged the back of his head against the railing. Yet another crumpled page joined the scattered litter beside him. He hated crayons. They didn't do justice to anything at all!


**Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Piece.**

**A/N: I really thought I'd be putting up a late Valentine's one-shot this weekend. But this popped up instead. :)**

Clumsy, Crooked Lines, and Weird Triangles

* * *

Drawing. That was what he had gotten himself caught up in. In his wildest dreams would Roronoa Zoro never have thought it possible that he would be sitting on the grass, drawing pictures. With crayons. Damn awkward they were too. Thick and messy. And they made him have to draw things bigger than he would have. Because lines came out so thick. But a challenge was a challenge.

So, there he sat by the little table, on the grass, with Luffy, and Chopper between them. His swords lay on the grass, deserted for the time being as Zoro grumpily butchered the page with hard lines. Luffy took a peek at his work and snickered. "Robin's not fat, Zoro!"

And Zoro growled, shoving him away. "Pay attention to your own stuff, Luffy! Stop looking at mine! It's the stupid crayons' fault!"

"What the hell is that?" asked a voice from nearby.

"Robin," said Chopper.

Sanji was looking down at the picture. "Marimo! You can't be serious! Defiling the beauty that is Robin-chan with that mess!" The tray of drinks in his hand was dumped onto the table and the cook dropped to his knees. "Stop that, immediately!"

He snatched away the page and tore it apart.

"Oi! How dare you, crap-cook!"

"Yay! Zoro loses!" said an excited captain and doctor.

"Loses?" asked Sanji.

"We have to draw someone out of the crew," Chopper said.

"Zoro's supposed to draw one of the girls," said Luffy and snickered alongside the reindeer.

"I still don't think it's fair, Luffy, that I have to draw them! It's harder!" said Zoro.

"You were so cocky, Zoro. You said you'd easily beat us at drawing anyone. So stop complaining."

"Yeah!" said Chopper.

"Only after you said I don't know how to draw! I KNOW HOW TO DRAW!"

"Why Marimo?" asked Sanji with a heavy frown. "I know every detail of Nami-san and Robin-chan's exquisite bodies. Ask me anything and I'll tell you." Luffy and Chopper looked at him, puzzled. Why would they want to do that?

"Disgusting," said Zoro.

"Really, Marimo? Well, watch me I win this." Sanji got to work, drawing both Robin and Nami. Broad curves took shape on paper.

Zoro folded his arms, moody as hell. Not only did he suck at drawing anything in general. But now the cook was upstaging him. He wished kicking his butt would make him feel better. With a frustrated huff, the swordsman knew he wasn't going to just give up that easily. He would beat the cook at his own game. Snatching up the book they had torn their pages out of, and some crayons, Zoro went to sit against the railing.

"Oh. Not giving up, marimo?" asked Sanji.

Minutes into his work, the swordsman banged the back of his head against the railing. Yet another crumpled page joined the scattered litter beside him. He hated crayons. They didn't do justice to anything at all! How could a decent picture in his head come out so horrible on paper? The swordsman tore out a clean page and closed his eye and breathed; concentrating, meditating, calming himself. He saw her clearly. Her hair being spread wide with her fingers, before the strands fell onto her back in waves. She looked over her shoulder and smiled.

Zoro opened his eye and delicately touched a new page with the crayon. Patiently, carefully he brought colour to it. And like a dream, she appeared. It still was bad; really, really bad. But it felt right to him. The hair may not really look like her hair, but the softness with which he had drawn the lines reminded him of the softness of the real strands. Her face may not have been the proper shape, but the light tinges of pink he put on the cheeks sparked the image of her delicate blush. He drew her till just below her shoulders, not wanting to go any further than that. No more was needed. It wasn't her. It didn't look like her. But it was her. Every line and colour served a purpose. Invoked a feeling in him. Zoro huffed; exhausted. And Sanji looked up from his own work. "Giving up, marimo?" he asked.

"I'm done, cook," said Zoro.

Some time later, the three other 'artists' finished their work and proudly showed off curves and metallic noses. Dark hollow eyes and curly afros. And then Zoro's turn came. He dropped the book onto the table with the drawing lying on it. Sanji frowned as he snatched up the page. Silky orange hair and large brown eyes stood out clearly to him. "Marimo," he said. And Zoro waited for him to blow a gasket or laugh at how horribly he'd drawn her, not really feeling a rival's instinct anymore after what he had just put himself through. But Sanji went quiet.

Luffy and Chopper took a peek and pulled faces. "Is that Nami, Zoro?" asked the confused captain.

Zoro grunted out a reluctant yes.

After some deliberating and protesting and majority votes, Luffy was declared the winner, because Franky's clunky robotic body just looked better in crayon than Brook's stick thin one, or Robin's and Nami's overly curvaceous curves. Zoro's drawing didn't really compare to anything because the two youths didn't get at all how that was Nami. Sanji, however, pulled Zoro aside afterwards. His lips were pursed together, and his curly eyebrow had been furrowed low ever since laying eyes on that drawing. He moved to say something but felt it would come out in some protesting whine if he did. So all he did was ask a question. "Does she know?" he asked stiffly.

A startled Zoro moved to say something, anything. Had he exposed that much with that drawing? But Sanji cut him off before he could even think of how to respond to that question.

"Don't lie, marimo, Don't deny anything that's true. Does she know?"

Zoro shook his head.

Sanji's expression lightened, somewhat. "Oh. Good. Are you planning on telling her?"

"... No."

Sanji cleared his throat. "Keep it that way." He walked off quickly, digging out a box of cigarettes.

"Why?" asked Zoro calmly.

Sanji stopped. "Never mind that. I'm serious, marimo. Don't ever let Nami-san know." Quickly Sanji went to the galley, leaving Zoro very confused. Was that guilt he'd heard in his voice instead of just a jealous warning? Why wasn't he laying down some challenge?

Zoro returned to the table, picking up the drawing that clearly was incriminating evidence to some. With regret, he prepared to tear it apart. But took one last look at it. It seemed that everything that was in him had been brought to life on paper. It had to be; not only because of Sanji's reaction. Mostly because of his own. When he looked at it, his chest felt lighter than it ever did at moments when she ignored him. When he wanted to speak to her in a certain way but couldn't. When he longed to touch her and had to turn away. The picture made him feel better, because it was what was hidden inside of him. What he couldn't show. What the cook now had seen. And what Nami would never see. How could he throw away something that made him feel that way. But it had to be done. Instead of tearing it apart, Zoro crumpled it up in his fist. Standing not too far from the railing, he tossed it into the air, knowing it would just clear the surface of the railing, and fall into the sea.

But...

"Zoro! NOOO!" Suddenly Nami was leaping into the air in front of him with outstretched hands. Like some lithe feline catching a bird launching off into flight.

The bird was caught.

Utter disbelief registered in Zoro's mind as she snatched up that ball of paper and landed on her feet perfectly. Quickly Nami unfolded it. "Nami," said Zoro, frozen in one spot. The same as his brain.

"One second, Zoro. I have to see this," she said without looking up.

Zoro couldn't make sense of what was happening. "the hell did you even find out about it?" No way could Sanji be responsible.

"Luffy." Luffy had so happily popped into the library to inform Nami that Zoro had drawn a picture of her, naked. Nami had jumped up from her desk, initially livid. Confusion had then set in. Zoro never disrespected her body. Her manipulative ways, yes, but never that. And finally she'd become curious. Zoro was no pervert. Why would he be drawing her, naked. Unless he actually... And Nami had run out of that library, bowling over one captain, to see that picture.

Nami grimaced at it at first. Crayon. Really bad choice. Made it look like a little child had drawn it. She took a few steps across the grass, studying it seriously, because, well, drawing with crayons was a nightmare. She couldn't fault him for that. Nami took in the lack of a body the picture contained. He hadn't drawn anything beyond her shoulders. And those bare shoulders had been classified as 'naked' by their so astute captain. Nami shook her head. There was nothing sexual about it. Well, maybe the curve of her shoulder.

Her gaze was drawn to the lines of her hair. There was something about it. As if he had tried very hard to make the strands look soft. With those large, clunky fingers of his, had he actually accomplished it with obvious light strokes. Nami fought a smile away from her mouth but couldn't contain the soft glow in her eyes. He'd put effort into the picture. And such care. "What does this mean?" Zoro was suddenly asked as she looked at him.

"What do you mean, what does it mean?" he asked, still glued to the same spot. "I drew you to stick it to the cook."

"And?"

"What do you mean, _'and'_? Ero-cook busted in here saying he could draw you and Robin better than I could. So I wanted to try and prove him wrong by drawing you."

"_And?"_

"And I wasn't gonna go as far as he was with body parts and stuff. So I didn't."

Nami's body quivered with anger and frustration. She needed to destroy something.

She turned around and suddenly Zoro heard paper being torn apart. She tossed the pieces over the railing and it made Zoro cringe inside. She might as well have thrown away his heart. But it was okay. Obviously she'd thought the picture ugly, and inconsiderate of him to have drawn. That he couldn't fault her for.

"I didn't think you could be such a coward, Zoro," she said bitterly, her back to him.

Zoro's jaw clenched shut. "I drew an ugly picture of you. How the hell is that being a coward?!"

Nami turned around. "I asked you what it meant, not why did you draw it."

Zoro frowned. "It's just a drawing," he said quietly and glimpsed up at the galley doorway. Where the hell was the cook? There Nami was drawing conclusions. The least he could have done was show up and help out.

"It came from a good place," she suddenly said and their eyes met.

"A good place?" Zoro shrugged. "Okay, then. It came from a good place. Can we leave it at that and stop making a big deal out of it? It's just a drawing."

"Ofcourse," she said in response to his words, pretending her chest felt lighter than it did. Pretending she would let it go so easily. Nami hadn't gone through more than two years of extreme patience, waiting for a moment like this to just let it slip by so easily. A wisp of proof that Zoro actually felt something more than friendship. Drawing her naked body might have shown some physical attraction, but drawing her in a way that invoked emotion? Nami couldn't turn away from that.

Zoro bent over and picked up his swords from the grass, mightily confused at Nami's questions. Why wasn't she just satisfied with his explanation. Why did it have to mean anything. Sanji had clearly recognised his feelings, because he felt some of the same things for her. But Nami couldn't possibly see it that clearly. It was impossible.

Straightening up, Nami's sandals, Nami's long jeans-covered legs, and Nami's belly button accompanied his journey upwards. Zoro skipped her chest and looked her straight in the eyes. "What now, woman?" he said, not openly intimidated by their close proximity. But his chest quivered inside. Actually quivered. Zoro identified it as a feeling of excitement over having her so near and looking up so intently into the only eye he could gaze back at her with.

Nami kissed him. She pressed her lips to his as one hand on the back of his head forced his lips against hers. Long enough to enjoy it; quick enough so it wouldn't cut into her pride too much. She let go. Hand off him and lips far from his. One could not identify every feeling running through the two of them now that they had finally felt each other's lips so intimately. But what one definitely could count on was that they wanted to feel it again. Simultaneously it happened. Zoro dropped his swords and Nami threw aside her pride. She was in his arms. And he was in hers. And their lips were moving together with such hunger, one would obviously have to attribute to painful starvation of the sensual kind.

Gasping for air as lips separated, they looked at each other, hands and arms not letting go. "One more," said Nami. And Zoro brought their mouths together with one thick hand almost permanently tangled in the soft hair behind her head. Patiently he stroked her tongue with his, feeling, tasting the depths of her secret longing meeting his. A desire burned within him to save it all to memory, before the seemingly unbounded kiss came to a breathless end. They parted with moist lips that tongues would gladly run over if just to taste again.

Sanji hoped against all hope that it was enough. But knowing at the same time that it wasn't. Not with the passion he had just witnessed. Not with the way his Nami-san had kissed the marimo first. "Oi, marimo!" Zoro and Nami looked up to where the cook stood in front of the galley, lighting a cigarette. He took a drag and let the smoke out with a shaky breath that he just barely managed to keep under control as he spoke. "You went and touched my Nami-san, shitty swordsman. I'm going to have to kick your ass now," he said smoothly, shaking the flame from the burning match and tossing it aside.

Zoro grunted in agreement. "But you knew about her all along, didn't you, cook!"

"What?" said Sanji. "What are you accusing me of, marimo?"

"Exactly what you think I'm accusing you of, cook! You knew what would happen if she found out! And you knew why! That's why you ran off with your tail between your legs, telling me not to say anything."

"Marimo – !" Sanji showed him a fist.

"Sanji-kun!"

"Nami-san?"

Nami was not surprised at all that Sanji had tried to keep Zoro's feelings from her. As good a confidant as he had been, Nami had always known that Sanji supported nothing past his own desires and what she demanded of him. And she had never and would never demand he find out whether Zoro returned any of her feelings. "It's okay, Sanji-kun," she said and turned to Zoro. "Yes, he knew."

"Hm?" It took a while, but Zoro finally got it. "He knew that you... And you knew that he knew that you..."

Nami nodded. "Sanji-kun found out some time ago and agreed with me and fully supported my decision to not go looking for trouble."

"You mean me. So _I'm_ trouble?" said Zoro, just to let that ridiculous assumption sink in. Well, he wasn't good for her. That was why he had kept his feelings a secret. You didn't go looking for romantic entanglements when you risked your life on a regular bases. But calling him alone trouble?

"Ofcourse, Zoro. I have to have my head read," said Nami, mournfully shaking her head.

"Woman, you're not exactly a gift from the gods. Not that I believe in any gods," he just had to say.

"See what I mean?" she said with fists clenching. "You're a JERK."

"Yeah. A jerk that _you_ kissed."

Nami growled beneath her breath. And that's why for over two endless years she couldn't even consider exposing her feelings first. Not until she'd known that he was in just as deep as she was and it would therefore be safe to step past her pride. The look of guilt and utter devastation on Sanji's face in the galley as she had passed him on her way to seeing the drawing, had confirmed it for her. "Sanji-kun!"

"Hai, Nami-san!"

"If I asked you not to hurt him _too_ much, would you listen?"

"What?" said Zoro to her.

"NAMI-SWAAN!" Sanji's arms spread out into the air. "For you, ANYTHING! When you ask nicely, and even when not nicely!" And then he glared dangerously at Zoro. "But it's going to be difficult, Nami-san. The shithead dared to kiss my special lady. He has to pay."

Nami lifted her chin. "Then, by all means, make him pay, Sanji-kun!" She passed Zoro by without a second glance.

"Oi, Nami," said Zoro unperturbed. "I'll be done here in a sec."

Nami smirked. "Oh. Do you expect me to nurse your wounds?" she said sarcastically.

And Zoro scoffed. "Gather the bandages for the ero-cook instead!" he said loudly. "He'll need it!"

Sanji growled. "Stop hiding behind, Nami-san, marimo!" He leapt over the railing and landed on the grass. As Nami passed him, his heart eye appeared. "Nami-san, you do still love me, don't you? Much more than you ever could the marimo, right?"

"'the hell, crap-cook?! What kind of thing is that to ask! You can't just – !"

"Yes, yes, Sanji-kun," Nami said, strolling up the stairs with a smile. "Always."

Sanji grinned stupidly at him. "Did you hear that, shitty swordsman? She loves me. Deal with it."

Zoro followed Nami's every move in his peripheral vision as she climbed the stairs. He'd fought a long battle that now would become a thousand times harder. Now that she knew, not only would Nami try to break his resistance, but Sanji would constantly be trying to upstage him. Well, the cook could give it his best shot, because Zoro wasn't running from anything. He'd show him how he's the better man.

And Nami wanted to break his resistance? He'd let her. If she was brave enough to risk the danger of being with him, then who was he to deny her. He'd actively participate in this weird triangle he already was a part of. Zoro smirked wickedly. "I can deal, cook," he said. And Nami came to an abrupt standstill on the balcony, lips parted and eyes wide. Zoro looked into those eyes. "The problem is, can you two?"

Zoro had hit him where it hurt. And now Sanji knew a test lay ahead. The greatest test to prove how much he really loved his Nami-san. Loving her enough to see her and the marimo grow closer. And still continue to take care of her the way that only he could. Because the lazy marimo couldn't possibly take care of his Nami-san the way he could. Sanji flicked his cigarette over the railing. "I'll deal, marimo. Oh I'll deal."

"I wouldn't be out here if I couldn't," said Nami from above, trying not to let Zoro see the fear she did have inside her. The fear he knew existed.

Zoro shifted his focus to the cook.

The fight began.

Nami's shoulders relaxed. Boundaries would be discussed later, but for now she'd let Sanji vent as he needed to. And Zoro was quite on board with fighting for their blossoming relationship. All secrets had been revealed, and they were all still getting along.

She pulled a crumpled page from her jeans pocket. Another page she'd had tucked in there before had come in handy when needing something to take her anger out on.

Nami caught Zoro staring up in confusion at the creased page in her hand while he fended off Sanji's kicks. And she smirked.

It really was not the best. But on that page, his heart lay exposed in clumsy, crooked lines.

"You're no good for her, shitty-swordsman!"

"I know how to really take care of her, cook!"

"No one looks after Nami-san like I do!"

"Step aside, cook. I'll show you how its done!"

Eventually Nami put an end to pointless, repetitive kicks and strikes, and ordered the fight should continue another time. Preferably when she was somewhere else. Sanji warily left them alone, armed with another declaration from Nami that she would always love him more. Zoro met her at the foot of the stairs she came down from.

"You still have it," he said, looking at the creased page in her hand resting on the railing.

"I wouldn't destroy it. It's not perfect, but..." Nami lowered her lips to his, "it's mine.

Zoro held his chin up. And his eyelid drooped closed as she touched his lips with hers.

The End.


End file.
